


Player Two

by Helenadorf



Series: Captain N: Remastered, Season 1 [3]
Category: Captain N: The Game Master, Metroid Series, Rockman | Mega Man Classic, 光神話 | Kid Icarus (Video Games), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Captain N Rewrite, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 08:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20720837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helenadorf/pseuds/Helenadorf
Summary: EPISODE 3. After completing his trials, Kevin unexpectedly meets someone from his own world; a bully, but one who happens to own a Famicom instead of an NES. He knows that she's tougher and more knowledgeable than he is. Problem is, as trouble arises in the Palace again, is she actually going to help, or is this just a game to her?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heads up; this is the point where failing to write most of the series in advance is catching up to me. I'm not sure I'll be able to finish episode 4 in time for next week-- effectively I'd have to write the entire 11k fic and rewrite it twice in that time-- but I'll do my best to keep the episodes coming!

*

“Didn’t expect to see _you_ here, Keene.”

Lana, Simon and Mega Man filtered into the room shortly after, joining Kevin at his side. He still had his gaze set on his high school bully, watching her absentmindedly fidget with the Zapper in her hands.

The sentiment was mutual, admittedly, in that Kevin hadn’t expected to see anyone outside of Duke show up in the Hub World— much less the one girl who tended to dump misery on him whenever he was unlucky enough to meet her in the hallways, or sit next to her in class. That in itself had earned him mockery from other guys, as though Miki wasn’t the toughest kid in the entire school on top of being taller than half the basketball team.

Miki had a mom who used to be an army veteran, and she’d put her daughter in all kinds of self-defence and fighting classes when she was little. Boxing, taekwondo, karate— and if Kevin remembered right, she’d also gotten sent to boot camp in middle school. She had a nasty attitude, and she also happened to be really, _really_ good at video games on the side. Kevin used to see her top every high score chart in the arcade down the street from their school. She utterly _destroyed_ anyone stupid enough to challenge her at anything with a two-player mode. Between all that and having surprisingly good grades, Kevin couldn’t think of anything Miki _wasn’t_ good at, besides maybe decent manners and making friends.

That said, as she looked at the two heroes next to Kevin, he could see her eyes visibly widen in shock. Heh— she might have been cool, but she wasn’t exactly _Simon Belmont_ or _Mega Man_ cool. These guys, she’d never be able to shove in a locker.

“Who are you?” Lana asked.

Miki turned her head towards her. Shaking off her initial reaction, she flashed her a smirk. “Would’ve asked you the same thing. I know who _they_ are— Simon, Rockman— but what about you?”

“’Rockman’?” Mega Man repeated, visibly confused.

“My name is Lana,” Lana replied. “I’m the guardian of the Palace of Power.”

“The big white one, I guess.” Miki looked at the Zapper in her hands. It didn’t miss Kevin’s notice that she already had one, holstered on her leg. She also had a Power Pad strapped to her belt, just like his. Why was she here?

But, before he could wonder too hard, Miki tossed the Zapper to him. He fumbled to catch it, successfully doing so with his hands awkwardly grabbing either side of the weapon.

“Name’s Miki Ishihara,” she said. “I woke up here with no friggin’ clue how I got here, and I’d like some answers, if Kevin’s entourage doesn’t mind.”

Simon and Mega Man didn’t react much, but Kevin frowned a little. Was she not just amazed to see them? Why suddenly act like they weren’t all that great when she knew full well how strong they were?

Lana wasn’t fazed. “Go ahead and ask your questions, Miki.”

“First: What is this place?”

“The Dungeon of Trials,” Lana answered. “Kevin just passed the last one.”

“Not terrible creative a name, is it?” Miki said. “Well, whatever. I’m surprised Kevin managed. I went through this one and one of the others, and both of them seemed way too tough for a geek like him.”

Kevin hoped it wasn’t obvious when he winced. It wasn’t like he’d scored 100%— but Simon was offended on his behalf. “Have some respect, young lady.”

He went ignored. Instead, Miki went back to her original question. “Either way, that wasn’t what I was referring to. I meant this _world_. This isn’t exactly suburban California.”

“No. This world is the one that connects universes together. It exists as a hub, and from here you can get pretty much anywhere.”

That explanation on its own, Kevin thought, wouldn’t make sense. He wondered if maybe he should approach Miki and tell her himself with the hope that she wouldn’t punch him. But Miki wasn’t the type to be slow on the uptake, and all she had to do was look at Mega Man and Simon again to figure out what Lana meant by that.

“_Anywhere_, huh?” Miki muttered, obviously to herself. Kevin didn’t know what she might have been thinking, and she moved on to her second question. “How did I get here, then? Not on purpose, I can tell you that.”

There, Lana was stumped. Mega Man carefully nudged Kevin and asked, “How did _you_ get here?”

He didn’t have an actual answer to that question. But if it was for her what it was for him… “Miki, did you get a weird light coming from your TV last night?”

Mega Man seemed baffled, and Simon just looked blank. Miki raised an eyebrow, but her response was what he’d been expecting. “Yeah. It also came with a weird, _prophetic_ voice telling me _you’re needed in this world, hero,_ or something like that.”

Kevin didn’t consider himself any kind of special, but he also knew Miki was no hero herself. Talented yes, and smart, and strong, but she got a failing grade on personality. That wasn’t always the case in the time he’d known her, admittedly, but these days…

Lana frowned and put a hand to her chin. “We didn’t consider this earlier, because of the attack,” she said, “But the Palace might know how you got here, and if there’s anyone else from your world.”

Come to think of it, the Palace— Mainframe— might totally know what was going on. Why hadn’t he thought of that earlier? Besides, obviously, distraction from friends and foes alike first thing in the morning. The Palace already seemed to know a lot more than it should, after all.

He quickly shook off the image of his mom in that prison cell during the second trial.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Miki super-jumped from the altar to being beside Lana, and put a way-too-friendly arm around her neck. “So show me around, won’t you, Princess?”

Lana’s face turned beet red. “’_Princess_’?”

Nevertheless, she recomposed herself and nodded, beginning to lead the group out of the room with Miki hanging off her shoulders. Kevin hanged back with Simon and Mega Man, deciding he was way more comfortable being hopelessly starstruck than he was being leered at. They didn’t seem to mind.

“’_Rockman_’?” Mega Man repeated again.

* * *

What ensued was the most awkward walk Kevin had ever been on.

Lana lead them back through the dungeon, but not the way Kevin had fought through. Instead, they went the way Lana and the others had been watching from, conveniently moving along to the beginning of the dungeon like an escalator. Kevin learned that Samus and Pit had decided to go patrolling with Duke, and guessed he’d see them later. It was a shame; he wondered if Miki would have been humbled at all to see a woman even bigger and stronger than she was. (Granted, Samus was probably in her twenties and definitely way more experienced in combat than Miki was, but still.)

Miki’s interest was mostly in Lana, weirdly. She didn’t ignore Mega Man or Simon, exactly, but she didn’t have much to say to them either. Mostly she just acted vaguely unimpressed with them and Kevin couldn’t imagine why she was bothering. Or maybe it was genuine outside of the shock of meeting them, because she knew pretty much everything there was to know about them. Lana, on the other hand, was a totally new face.

Looking at Lana, she seemed to be handling the attention with a bit of discomfort, but Kevin wasn’t sure if it was just because Miki made a bad first impression or if Lana didn’t know how to handle new people. He wouldn’t think so. She’d certainly been fine with him and the heroes she’d summoned.

“She goes to the same school as you, right?” Mega Man asked, somewhat out of nowhere. The guess wasn’t hard to make, considering the matching letterman jackets. “Is she always like this?”

“I think this is a good day for her,” Kevin admitted. “In that she hasn’t shoved anyone yet.”

“To be fair, she knew who we were. Even for that attitude, causing trouble in front of us isn’t exactly a smart thing to do.”

“_Both _of us, at that,” Simon commented. “If she is of Kevin’s world, then I must wonder if she is as knowledgeable as he.”

Kevin hoped his face didn’t look red. “She knows more than me, actually. So, yeah.”

Kevin had all of his information off of the NES and from the instruction manuals that came with the games. Miki, on the other hand, had the Famicom— the original system from Japan, on which the game were out months or even _years_ ahead of the North American releases. Sometimes, the localized games even had different features than the initial releases, so Miki knew secrets Kevin wasn’t privy to.

Simon shook his head. “Regardless, this matter best be resolved quickly. The sooner we can focus on the villains who threaten this world, the better.”

They returned to the beginning of the dungeon, and now just had to walk to the teleport pad below the Palace. Kevin noticed that he couldn’t see Samus’ ship anywhere. Where was she parking that thing, anyway? Either she and Pit had strayed too far to see from the ground, or had already landed back in the Palace for a break.

In returning, Miki let out a low whistle and examined the elegant entrance room, with its stunning marble and massive windows and spiraling staircases. Her head craned back to see how high the ceiling was above her; Kevin hadn’t noticed before, but this ceiling had a mural depicting a figure surrounded by planets. Each one had a line drawn to the central figure, but the figure itself wasn’t really defined. It was almost like the person who painted it didn’t know what this hero was going to look like, and so left blank white space to fill in later.

Though, like the statues in the uppermost hallway, he couldn’t imagine who had done that work and why. This whole place was a big mystery.

“Fancy,” Miki chirped. “You got this all to yourself, Princess?”

“Kind of,” Lana said. “Right now, because there’s been… _things_ going on, I’ve invited various heroes here to come and help me keep the Palace safe.”

“_Things_,” Miki repeated. “What _things_?”

Would it be a good idea to tell her? Miki was a mean person, but there was a difference between being mean and being bad. It wasn’t like Miki was going to stop everything and join Mother Brain. Besides, the decision wasn’t his, and Lana filled her in while they began to head up to the top.

The Palace had been too awesome to start with and everything had been so surreal that Kevin hadn’t questioned it at first, but as they continued on towards that highest spire to where the Palace’s systems all connected, he was starting to realize that the place was, well, pretty _big_. _Big_ less in the sense of being incredible and a marvel of architecture, however it might’ve been built, and more in the sense of _why is there no elevator_. Miki certainly couldn’t help but ask that question outright, to which Lana had no response.

Kevin was certainly feeling the strain, doing this much exercise after having already gone through the most difficult test of his life back in the Dungeon of Trials. Would it be embarrassing to ask Simon to carry him up?

He didn’t ask. Instead, he sucked it up just until they made it to the Hallway of Heroes (or at least, that was what he had started calling it in his head) and at that point he needed to stop and take a breather. Correction: he’d needed to take a breather five sets of stairs ago, but it was only now that there was a distraction to convince Miki to hit pause for a second.

For someone who hadn’t been interested in the actual heroes in front of her, the statues seemed to catch her attention. She’d asked the same questions the heroes themselves had asked about it, and then some: where they were from, who made them, how did they get here. As before, Lana didn’t have those answers.

“Aren’t you the _Guardian_ around here?” Miki asked. “And yet you don’t know the first thing about it.”

She must have finally found something to offend Lana outright, because she snapped. “It can’t be helped,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “Maybe that’s something I’m _working_ on. So lay off, will you?”

Miki raised her hands in mock surrender. “Hey, I was just asking.”

Lana turned away. “Well, you can stop now.”

Kevin had no idea what button Miki had pushed. Still, he didn’t feel inclined to just stand by and let Lana be insulted— he jogged up to meet them and put himself between the two girls. Just as well, because Miki had been about to open her mouth again.

Instead, she sneered at Kevin. “She doesn’t need you to protect her, Keene,” she said. “Besides, I wasn’t trying to bug her.”

“Maybe,” Kevin retorted, “But I wouldn’t put it past you to have a hard time breaking the habit.”

He tried not to flinch as Miki got up in his face. “So, what? You find her first, meet some _real_ heroes and decide you’re one of the good guys, too? Aren’t you being _presumptuous_?”

“That’s enough.” Lana pulled Kevin back and addressed the both of them. “Miki, I’ll believe you when you say you didn’t mean to insult me, but don’t be aggressive with anyone else. Kevin, I appreciate the support, but I don’t need you to step in.”

Kevin sighed. “Alright. I’m sorry, Lana.”

Lana took the apology, and Miki didn’t say anything— just crossed her arms and huffed. Not caring to continue the discomfort of the situation, Lana gestured for everyone to follow her again and lead them through the hallway, past the bridge and back to Mainframe.

“Welcome back,” it said. The calming voice was a welcome one.

“The danger’s passed, and Kevin made it through his trials,” Lana said, gesturing to him. “So if you could… could you explain something to us, please?”

Miki, as usual, didn’t give anyone a chance to shove a word in before she spoke out. “How’d Keene and I get here?”

Mainframe didn’t seem offended, at least. Kevin had to imagine it took a lot to offend a sentient computer system tied to a massive fantasy castle, but if anyone could do it, well— give Miki a few minutes, he guessed. But that immediately stopped mattering when Mainframe gave the answer.

“I brought you here,” it confessed.

“You did?” Kevin repeated. “Why us?”

That had been quick of him, and he saw Miki raise an eyebrow, but still. If Mainframe was the one who spirited them away to the Palace of Power, then did that mean it had some awareness in the real world? It would explain why it might know about his mom…

“Please, sit,” Mainframe said. “This won’t be short.”

Kevin decided to take the advice. He didn’t so much take a seat as much as let his legs give out from under him, considering he was still completely sore from the trials. Lana gladly did, as well— Simon and Mega Man did not. Miki was the last to flop down, cross-legged, putting her elbow on her knee and her head on that hand.

“There is a prophecy I know,” Mainframe continued, “that has been since I was created. That one day, a hero from a world beyond my reach would come here and be the bridge across all lands, to be the heart of a shared universe, to be the Game Master.”

The _Game Master_. Kevin glanced back at Simon and Mega Man, who looked completely blank at the significance of that. Do they know?

_No. They wouldn’t know, would they?_

He looked back to the computer.

“Beyond your reach, how?” Miki said. “Obviously, our world wasn’t so far away if you could grab us from it. And we didn’t exactly _come here_ so much as we were kidnapped.”

Kevin almost wanted to laugh, because Miki wasn’t wrong about that. He held his tongue.

Mainframe displayed a map on its primary monitor. At the center of it seemed to be the Palace of Power, and around it were lines directing it to other locations. He noticed that some just looked like planets. Others were specific places, like cities, or castles.

“I can access these places easily,” Mainframe said, “the worlds to which I am connected. Because of me, there are portals called Warp Zones leading from one place to another. These worlds are accessible, open. But your world is the one place that I cannot create a warp zone to. It takes up monumental amounts of power to bring anything from your world here, and my ability to do so is… _imperfect_.”

That worried Kevin a little. What did Mainframe mean by _that_? He and Miki and Duke were all here in one piece, he thought.

“But, it worked. I apologize for the abruptness and the lack of warning of my request.”

“The Palace was under attack,” Lana said. “And you knew you were going to need all the help you could get.”

“As for _why you_, it’s because they know about everywhere else, right?” Mega Man asked. “Kevin’s proven that, and then he said that Miki knows more.”

Some kind of understanding flashed in Miki’s eyes. “Oh,” she said, “I think that makes sense. So we’re hired to be the brains of the team, because the Palace is in trouble and you think either Kevin or I might be your Game Master?”

“That is the long and short of it, yes.”

Kevin thought immediately, _not me_.

He looked over at Miki and thought it was impossible that it could be her, either. Except he remembered what she said earlier: _aren’t you being presumptuous?_

Maybe now wasn’t the time to think about it. After all, he’d watched enough movies to know the deal; the noble journey played out, and whatever happened, happened. So for now, the main thing to worry about was how to defeat Mother Brain.

Of course, that happened to be the moment the doors bust back open behind them, with Samus, Pit and Duke marching in from outside. Kevin and the others whirled around, not missing the urgency from them.

“Is something wrong?” Mega Man asked.

“Yeah,” Samus said. “Looks like not all of our _guests_ from Mother and co. went back home. Either that, or they found another way back in.”


	2. Chapter 2

*

Lana’s face fell quickly. Miki looked far too interested in hearing that. Kevin swallowed, unsure where he was on the spectrum. He settled on sharing Lana’s dread, because it felt too soon for another attack. He thought it’d be _tomorrow_, or some other day in the near future. But then again, could he really expect mercy from someone like her?

“Think they got in through the dungeons?” Miki asked, before it had the chance to occur to anyone else. “The last rooms in the two I went through both lead outside, right out in the open. It wouldn’t surprise me if that made easy back-door access.”

“I’ll ask who you are when I have the time,” Samus said, having only just noticed Miki. “But if that’s the case, then I’d bet on it. Lana, how many dungeons are there?”

“Four.” Lana stood and brought up a map on her Power Glove’s holographic display to show four marked areas on the ground, each one an equal distance from the Palace. “There’s a way to shut off access, but it has to be done manually. It’s a switch that’s hidden under the altar of each final room.”

Samus did a quick head count. “There’s seven of us,” she said. “I’m going to leave a few people behind. Kevin, Lana, you look exhausted. Both of you get guard duty. Take down anyone who slips past us.”

Kevin was under no inclination to complain. Lana seemed fine with the decision as well.

“New girl,” Samus continued. “How well can you fight?”

Miki grinned. “I ran through two dungeons and I haven’t broken a sweat. I’m trained, armed, and more than happy to go again.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it. If that’s hot air, you’re the one that pays for it.” Samus gestured her head towards the door. “Come with me. We’ll work out who deals with what when we get there.”

As they left, Kevin slumped on the ground, and Duke laid down beside him, giving a low whine. Lana sat back down as well, dropping her head back, and uttering a small “ow” as her neck cracked. Behind them, Mainframe helpfully changed the monitor displays so that they could watch out for incoming intruders, but neither of them had the energy to look. Instead, they sat in silence for a while.

“Hey, Kevin…” Lana eventually started. “What’s it like in your world?”

Kevin glanced over, and Lana’s expression seemed… _strange_, to him. He wasn’t sure how to read it, or maybe it was just because he himself felt like he’d just finished going three rounds with Mike Tyson. Beyond that, he wasn’t sure how to answer Lana’s question.

“It’s nothing special,” he decided to say. “Live at home, go to school five days a week, go home and do homework, maybe visit the mall or the beach or the arcade, play video games, fix dinner... During summer I find a part-time job.” He shrugged. “There’s not really anything like everyone else’s worlds, you know? It’s just… living a regular life.”

“It sounds quiet,” Lana said. “Is it nice?”

Kevin thought about it. “Yeah,” he replied. “It’s nice. People can be jerks sometimes, but there’s nothing like a Mother Brain or a Medusa. _Maybe_ a Dr. Wily, depending on how you look at things.”

Lana’s lip quirked. Kevin felt something snap into place.

“What… do _you_ do, most of the time?” Kevin asked carefully. “Like, before all this.”

Lana’s hesitation spoke volumes.

She drew her knees up to her chest, rested her cheek on her arm, and stared out the door. “I just live here, I guess,” she said. “Um…”

Lana sighed. “You know how Miki kinda accidentally insulted me earlier? Because… I know I’ve been here a while. Long enough to know what the Palace is, how it works and how to keep it running, but I don’t think I’ve been around as long as the Palace itself. Maybe, I dunno, maybe it only created me recently, or something.”

Kevin startled. “The Palace created you?”

“I mean, that’s _my_ guess.” Mainframe happened to be very quiet right now. Lana continued: “But the point is, I haven’t been anywhere else. And there’s still a lot about the Palace that even I don’t know, and I worry sometimes that I’m missing something. Miki reminded me of that, and it hurt.”

Duke stood up, just long enough to walk over and nudge Lana’s face. She smiled and uncurled a little, scratching him behind the ears.

“Thanks, Duke,” she said. “You’re a sweet boy.”

Kevin smiled too, and decided to press only a little bit. “You really haven’t visited the other worlds?”

Lana shook her head. “Nope. I’ve thought about it, but I worry about getting lost.”

“Then maybe this’ll be your chance.” Kevin did his best to offer her a bit of excitement as he explained. “While we’re fighting Mother Brain, we’ll probably have to visit everyone’s worlds if she starts stirring up trouble there. Maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for along the way! Or maybe you won’t, but even then, you’ll still get _something_ out of the experience. At least, you won’t be alone.”

And he meant that. Kevin had already seen Lana go through the wringer and still hang in there long enough to face the next challenge. He’s said he’d help her, and he _would_. His mom always taught him to do his best to help people.

That intent seemed to come across, because Lana’s smile showed a bit more strength after a moment. “Thank you, Kevin. I really appreciate that.”

She withdrew her hand from Duke’s head and stood up. “Well, we should keep an eye out. Not that I think anyone’s getting past the others.”

* * *

Samus’ ship was parked in a hangar on one of the higher floors of the Palace, just below the main tower. Much as she’d been fine bringing Pit along earlier, it occurred to her now that she hadn’t often had guests aboard her ship; or, heck, it’d been a while since she’d even been on a mission with other people on her side, rather than rivalling her or pointing the way. It struck her now as bizarre, not just because of the novelty, but the fact that she’d earlier agreed to make this a regular thing until Mother Brain was stopped.

Well, whatever. She wasn’t one to waver for any reason, much less something like her own tendency for working alone. Pit had told her earlier that he worked for his goddess, but in the missions themselves it was just him. She got the sense that it was much the same for the robot and the— what was Simon, again? A vampire hunter?

So at least she wasn’t alone in that. But the new girl, Miki, was something else.

Honestly, Samus would— _heh_, she’d admit that the girl reminded her a little of herself, in her attitude. Definitely at that age, at least. But the thing that struck her as off was the same thing that seemed strange in Kevin, and it was something… in the way they looked at everything around them. They acted like they’d only just shown up, but they knew and recognized more than could possibly make sense.

She only _just_ learned that hers was one of many universes connected to this hub. Lana was the Palace’s guardian— she had an excuse. Kevin and the new girl didn’t.

Samus had resolved to keep an eye on them, at least for now. Maybe they’d prove her wrong, or tell the truth, or otherwise she’d catch them before they did anything to jeopardize the mission. Samus had seen more than a few traitors in her line of work.

After allowing the others to board her ship (with Simon in particular seeming completely perplexed by the situation), she reactivated her Power Suit and marched up to take the pilot’s seat. As she started up the engine, its roar of life resulting in a startled gasp behind her.

“Hold on tight,” Samus said before lifting the ship into the air. All but one person apparently took her advice— when she drove the ship out of the hangar, the largest and heaviest of her passengers fell onto the floor.

“Ow,” grumbled Simon.

“I _told_ you to hold on tight,” Samus remarked, unable to help the amusement in her voice. She glanced back to see him half-sprawled in his spot, where Mega Man, Pit and Miki were fine. “What did you _think_ that meant?”

“Well, pardon me, but I’ve not _been_ on a vessel that could travel the skies,” Simon hissed defensively, hauling himself back up.

Miki laughed. “Samus, the guy’s from a time when they still had horse-drawn carriages and wrote books by hand. You can’t be surprised.”

Simon himself didn’t care to acknowledge the mockery. Instead, he focused his efforts on learning to stay upright as Samus navigated the ship across the fields around the Palace. On the other hand, Pit’s wings snapped out, and he would’ve told the girl off if Mega Man hadn’t beat him to it.

“Will you stop being rude?” the little robot said. “You shouldn’t be making fun of him for that.”

“I’m just making a point, Rock. Besides, I’m pretty sure a big, tough vampire hunter like Simon Belmont doesn’t need a rip-off Mighty Atom taking his side.”

Mega Man seethed a little in frustration. Simon, having regained his footing, walked over and knelt next to him.

“Your words are appreciated, young one,” he said. “Personally, I’m inclined to put the blame on her _parents_ for failing to teach her proper manners.”

That finally got a twitch out of her, but now really wasn’t the time. Samus had come up to one of the dungeons, with a squadron of enemies pouring out of it. Whether they got there through the dungeon itself or through the shortcut for spectators didn’t matter— what did was stopping them in their tracks.

“We can continue the arguments later,” Samus announced. “This is the one with the most baddies coming out of it. Mega Man, Pit, I want you two to handle this one.”

Mega Man and Pit both turned at attention, with the latter giving an enthusiastic salute and both letting out a simultaneous “Right!” to make their acceptance clear. Samus opened the side of the ship, allowing the both of them to head out.

Neither had a problem leaping from this height to the ground. Samus saw them get started on their work, closed the ship back up and turned the vessel towards the next spot they needed to cover.

“My _parents_ raised me fine,” Miki said, apparently not allowing Simon the peace. “Apparently yours never taught you how to dress.”

Simon rolled his eyes. He also didn’t respond, and that only irked her more.

“Don’t ignore me!” she demanded. “I insult your family and you don’t even look my way? Are you for real?”

Samus heard Simon mutter something in a language too old for her visor’s HUD to decipher, and _almost_ quiet enough to get away with it. Samus decided to quiet the girl before she got any fussier.

“Don’t worry, kid,” she said. “You’ll have something to shoot in two minutes. I’m dropping Simon off at the eastern dungeon, you’re taking the south. The last one’s mine.”

The girl huffed and settled down, but she still spat out an impudent “Whatever.”

Samus had to admit that even as a kid, she wasn’t that eager to pick a fight for nothing. What crawled up _her_ boot and died?

* * *

For seasoned heroes like Pit and Mega Man, the dungeon itself was no problem. And even after all the fighting they’d done this morning, clearing out the Palace and defending it until Lana could get the shields back up, they still had enough basic ammo to take care of the goons rushing out of the place like a foul-smelling wildfire.

Well, it helped that Mega Man had a bunch of other weapons from his brothers in his arsenal, and those made cutting through the bad guys much easier. Not that Pit had any shortage of his own victories along the way, but where it’d taken something like an hour for Kevin to wrap up his trials, Pit and Mega Man tore through this dungeon in ten minutes, tops.

“How many brothers do you have?” Pit asked.

“Eight!” Mega Man chirped. “Each of them in different industrial industries. I always have their weapon data on-hand, and it’s really been coming in handy today!”

“So you’re practically from a family of robo-superheroes! Robo-heroes? Robo-supers?”

Mega Man laughed. “I guess you could see it that way! What about you, Pit?”

Pit stammered, then let out an awkward chuckle. “Nah, only child! It’s just me and Lady Palutena. Anyway, let’s keep going!”

Mega Man realized that he must have unintentionally hit a sore spot, but Pit had already charged ahead without any obvious drop in energy. He decided he’d apologize later.

When they got to the altar, it had another Zapper hovering over it. It sat lonesome in another forest clearing, with that same shining light over it, waiting for somebody who passed the tests to come for its prize. But that wasn’t what they were here for.

“So how do we move this thing?” Pit wondered, as Mega Man walked over to the altar and changed his armour to white and brown. “Should we both push at once, or should we try and make a lever, or—”

Mega Man simply lifted up the altar and revealed the switch. Pit blinked.

“Or I guess you could do that,” he finished.

Mega Man smiled. “I’ll let you have the honours, Pit.”

* * *

Simon vaulted over the final obstacle of the fifth trial with ease. It hadn’t taken him long to recognize that this was the one Kevin had completed, although the boy had failed this particular test. To be clear, that was no fault of Kevin’s. Even Simon’s father had waited until he could at least cross a collapsing bridge before throwing him into a course of death traps.

Several of those… _robots_, Simon took out with a flurry of throwing knives. He marched on without breaking stride, passing through the next door. Amusingly, the dungeon had summoned no enemies for the third trial. Perhaps it understood that there were enough enemies to slay without it adding more.

Maybe _slay_ was too strong a word. Simon might as well have been unhindered entirely. He knew better than to be overconfident, of course— such a thing had caused him many troubles both during and following his first triumph over Lord Dracula. But he could tell these places were meant for fledgling warriors, not someone like him—

Something jolted. Simon snapped to attention, but there was nothing to see.

What in Heaven’s name was that just now? He could have sworn he felt the breeze of something passing by him, but he could see no trace that anyone else had even been in the room. At least, not at first.

He turned back to the door, and noticed what had once been a rectangular opening was now a massive, gaping hole of broken brick.

Simon resolved to finish here quickly and report to Samus, or find Mega Man. They had the means of contacting the Palace— he didn’t.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, by the time Samus found the end of the west dungeon, Mother Brain’s new army fodder had the good sense to split when she showed up. Oh, she still had to blast the occasional target— whether it was programmed loyalty, blind devotion or just plain stupidity, she really didn’t care. She just shot and dodged and got through the dungeon’s trials like it was a Sunday morning walk.

It didn’t escape her, though, that this dungeon had no middle for a potential hero to grab a first weapon. It just had the very last one, and it was empty. She had to guess this was where Lana had her trials, then.

She felt a pang of sympathy, thinking about it. _It’s not easy learning to fight alone._

But Samus had learned without a tear to shed, and Lana had the air of someone who could be just as strong, even if she didn’t show it the same way.

Samus marched up to the altar, kicked from the hip, and knocked the thing onto its side. Seeing the switch beneath, she pulled down the handle and let the dungeon itself take care of the rest, sparking with energy. But she didn’t miss that there was no obvious source as to _where_ their enemies had come from.

Meaning either Mother Brain had given that source some camouflage, or they’d already gone back. Was this another test on her part?

But why give them the chance to cover for it? What was the plan here?

A younger Samus might have boasted that the so-called _collection of the Chozo’s knowledge_ was about as intelligent as the cave slime smeared on her heel, but she knew better than that. Mother Brain had to have _something_ else in mind. Was she watching right now? It wasn’t like these switches were themselves impossible to find. Or was she just still testing the limits of the Palace’s security?

She’d have to keep an eye out even after this was over. She wasn’t about to let Mother Brain’s forces slip by a third time today.

* * *

Ugh; Miki had _been_ through this dungeon already. Was it really going to force her to do the whole thing over again?

Well, whatever. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like it was any trouble for her. Swinging fireball pendulums and pits of periodically retracting spikes were only scary the first time. By now, Miki had mastered the Power Pad and knew she had the stamina to just jump right over, if not blow through it with the D-pad. In fact, once she _got_ the thing, her trials became a joke. She already had all kinds of training, and she didn’t tire easily.

So she breezed past again, heading right up to the altar. All she had to do was knock it over, shut down the dungeon’s passage, then… what?

Miki paused at the end of the obstacle course when she realized she didn’t know exactly what she planned to do. Hang out with the heroes? She liked them fine when she was playing as them, but meeting them in person felt… underwhelming, and worse yet, they’d very quickly decided they’d liked Keene. And Keene was someone who’d bothered her for a long time.

They’d been friends when they were little. But she’d outgrown him. Become stronger than him. It took him way too long to get the hint, and by that point, well… Okay, she’d admit there was _one_ moment where she’d gone a bit too far, teasing him. She was a stupid kid, and it hadn’t been called for, not that she’d ever admit that to his face. But it didn’t change the fact that Keene had a certain quality that she saw in the others, that only Lana lacked. To think she’d just thought the weird girl with the bad glove was pretty at first.

She really _hadn’t_ meant to insult her back at the Palace, but it’d taught her that Lana could _get_ her, in a way Keene never would. Nor anyone else.

But she wasn’t so quick to say that seeing kinship in Lana was going to make up for dealing with Keene and the rest. But then, what else _could_ she do? Could she just go try and fight Mother Brain by herself and win the game? Not like she was by any means the toughest end boss in video game history…

Then again, not like Medusa and Dr. Wily were just going to sit quietly in _their_ boss rooms and wait to get their butts kicked. Even _she_ probably couldn’t handle three final bosses at once. She didn’t even know where the bad guys _were_. So what was left?

A red blur whizzed past her peripheral vision.

Miki whirled around, drawing her Zapper. The blur came back, stopped, and before she could so much as blink, knocked the Zapper right out of her hands. It skidded across the ground and landed back between two sawblades running through the floor.

Miki growled, but she was silenced quickly by a wagging finger.

“I really hope you weren’t planning on getting in my way,” they said, now that they were standing still in front of her nose. “’Cause I’m not the type of guy that shows up late to the party.”


	3. Chapter 3

*

While they were waiting, Kevin and Lana had gotten into idle conversation. At first, Lana just wanted to know more about Kevin’s home life, but then the topic had changed to the various worlds out there, and the games they came from. Not just the ones that their friends came from, but all the other ones out there with all kinds of different histories and heroes and baddies of their own.

Kevin hadn’t been in in-depth conversation about this stuff before, and once in a while he’d start to feel bad for rambling— but then Lana would urge him to keep going, and he’d comply. He named each place: The Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule, Coneria, Angel Land and Zebes and even the non-fantastical/sci-fi places, like the countries that the guys in _Punch Out!!_ came from. Kevin had shifted sitting positions a few times since starting guard duty, but by now Lana had laid down on her stomach, her legs kicked up behind her and resting her chin on her hand. All throughout, she never dropped eye contact.

It was strange, but also kind of awesome. It’s not like he’d never had friends before, but admittedly he’d been… _unlucky_. (Miki was testament to that.) A lot of his closest buddies tended to move away, or find other friend groups that they liked better, or just never got that close in the first place. And Kevin had plenty of acquaintances that liked him fine, and he liked them too, but calling them ‘friends’ felt, to use Miki’s word, _presumptuous_.

But there was a difference here, it felt like. Now that the initial uncertainty was gone, he felt comfortable around her in a way he didn’t usually with people he’d only just met that day.

“What is it you like about video games, Kevin?” she asked eventually. “Is it the story, and the worlds? Or do you think there’s something else to it?”

“Well…” Kevin blushed a little. “Yeah, a lot of it is that. But way more of it is the adventure, and the rush of getting to fight bad guys and help people. Even if you’re not _really_ doing it, who doesn’t like to be the hero?”

“I think anyone can be a hero,” Lana said. “But I get what you mean, only a few people get to be out travelling and rescuing people in need.”

“It’s kind of a silly fantasy for a normal kid, isn’t it.”

“So what? It says a lot about you.”

He looked at her as she elaborated. “I mean, you got snatched out of your world, agreed to stay, and you didn’t need anyone to give you a reason, really. If you’d left it to me and the others, it’s not like we would have blamed you.”

“It wouldn’t have been right,” Kevin mumbled.

“Sure. But I mean— I watched you during your trials, it wouldn’t have been fair of us to be hard on you for it.” He raised an eyebrow, and she quickly realized what she said. “Sorry! I didn’t mean that to sound so backhanded…”

But Kevin just laughed. “Nah, I get it. Believe me, I was screaming in my head the whole time, I wouldn’t have been impressed with me, either.”

Lana still looked apologetic, but she smiled. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here. Lame combat skills or not, I like talking to you.”

Kevin felt fuzzy inside, and a big dumb grin spread across his face. He was about to give her a response— _I like talking to you too_— when the Palace finally decided to speak up.

“Incoming message,” Mainframe interrupted.

Oh. That didn’t sound good. The conversation now over, Lana gathered herself off the floor and nodded for it to be received. Samus showed up on-screen with a serious look on her face through her visor.

“Something slipped past us while we were sealing the dungeons,” Samus said, the moment she appeared. “_How_ something that big got by, I don’t know, but you’re about to have company. You can either get rid of it yourself, or you need only to hold on until we can get there.”

Lana looked at Kevin, and held eye contact. He didn’t guess what the question was: he already knew, because she’d told him not even a minute ago. She could be glad for the real heroes, but she’d needed a friend just as badly.

Lana turned back to Samus and said, “We’ll have them up in smoke before you get here.”

Samus took that response with a smirk— a sort of amusement that wasn’t as condescending as it was in faith. “Good luck, kids.”

It took not five seconds after Samus finished her message for a series of dragon roars to be heard from outside.

Kevin got up— wincing at the aches and pains that he’d developed from the dungeon— and told Duke to stay. He then followed Lana outside, and to his relief, the others hadn’t somehow missed three dragons squeezing through one of (some of?) the dungeons. They’d just missed _one_ dragon with _three_ heads, and they’d found it out on the bridge from the main Palace to Mainframe’s Tower.

That said, it took him a second to figure out who this was. There were at least a few serpent-like dragons he could think of, but none of them had multiple heads. That said, one of the single-headed ones was from _Kid Icarus_, and he could figure out from there that this must have been Hewdraw. (Hewdraws?)

The dragon spoke in a barrage of voices, all overlapping and interrupting one another: “Hello there! Nice to eat you!” “Humans! Of the heroes we were told to challenge, we were approached by _humans_!” “My, how brave. But I suppose it would be dull to combat Palutena’s servant more than once this decade.” “I get the first bite!” “Absolutely not!” “Tasty, tasty little humans!” “And I’m getting at them _first_!” “Would the two of you settle down?”

Kevin and Lana looked at each other.

“Do we even _try_ making boss battle conversation, or do we just fight them?” Lana asked.

“I dunno,” Kevin replied. “I feel like they’ve got it covered.”

“We can hear you!” “Come along, deadweights, let’s get this done.” “Who are _you_ to call us deadweights?!” “_I’m_ doing all the work in flying. You two are just chatting!” “We are not! You’re the one running your mouth!”

“Yeah,” Lana agreed. “I think we can just get to the fight.”

In the middle of their commotion, Hewdraw at least had the collective courtesy of landing on the bridge. Dust billowed in clouds from its (their?) landing. Kevin tugged his Zapper out of its holster on his belt and remembered vaguely when a police officer had given a presentation at his elementary school: finger off the trigger, always use both hands, point it at the ground unless you’re going to shoot. For now, while he still had a few seconds, he needed to remember what he could about Hewdraw from _Kid Icarus_.

In the game, the dragon had been in a pit of lava, and it was required to aim for the head to do damage to it. It was a simple enough pattern, the way the creature moved. But the problem was, that didn’t apply here. Hewdraw had met them on solid ground, the three heads hissing at both them and each other. The rules were going to be totally different.

That said, Kevin looked over at Lana. Her glove was at the ready, glowing with power, and he suddenly remembered the sword at his belt. Maybe the rules were different from _Kid Icarus_, but they weren’t so far from the original Greek story Hewdraw was based on.

He swapped his Zapper for the sword and hoped it’d get through that scaly hide of Hewdraw’s.

“Ready?” Lana asked him. She noticed the sword.

Kevin nodded.

Hewdraw finally cooperated with itself enough to make the first strike. The center head snapped its jaws, snarled and lunged forward, with the other two getting ready to do the same.

“Get in! I’ll cover you!” Lana called, stepping up. She landed a hit on the center head’s snout, and leapt over the right head in time to catch the attention of the left head. Kevin chose the left head as his target.

He prepared himself, circled around to get to the dragon’s side, and slashed from above with as much force as he could put into the attack.

It’d turned out to be a mistake. The blade got stuck not two inches into the nape, and much as Hewdraw snarled in pain, he was now being stared down by three very angry-looking faces.

He tore the sword from the cut and hit the D-pad just in time to zoom out of the way of triplet breaths of fire, but he wasn’t prepared for the landing and ended up stumbling onto his side. Lana put up a shield to defend herself and him as the combined blaze swept across the bridge.

“What now?” Lana called back, putting down her shield and preparing to counter-strike.

An idea occurred to Kevin. _He_ definitely didn’t have the strength to cut through Hewdraw’s necks, but _Lana_ absolutely did.

“Yours!” He called, sliding the sword over to her.

She saw it stop at her feet, picked it up, and looked up to see the cut in the side of the left head. Understanding what Kevin was getting at, she dodged the next blast of fire and rushed in from the side.

With a trail of blue and a dramatic battle cry, she slashed downwards from the air. Matching exactly where Kevin had cut, the left head dropped to the bridge and roared in abject agony. Kevin rolled away from the main body, brought out his Zapper and fired a continuous beam at the severed head.

The head screeched and thrashed the long neck still connected to it, helpless, and Kevin kept firing as he pulled himself back up to his feet, until it fell dead and disappeared in smoke. The remaining heads coughed, giving Lana chance to jump back and collect her strength again.

“Good riddance,” one of the remaining heads said. “Perhaps now we’ll get something done.”

“Enough chat! The humans still stand!”

Two more strikes, Kevin thought. But the problem was that the fewer heads there were, the less they were going to argue to fight back, and he and Lana just barely managed to escape a harsh swipe of tail. He was still aching from earlier, and that was starting to take its toll again. And that was _without_ considering what energy the Power Pad was going to be taking. Did the Zapper do the same? He certainly didn’t feel well.

But if it worked, it worked. He told himself to stay strong and trust Lana to muster up the same strength.

She was already at it, passing the sword into her non-gloved hand and swiping with a shield from her gloved one just in time to bounce Hewdraw’s center maw off of it. She swiped with the sword again when the right head struck, and left a mark across its face.

Seeing his opening, Kevin fired again at the right head. The center head roared and tried to strike at Lana again while the other head was busy, but Lana held her ground.

The right head’s teeth glowed with impending fire.

Kevin hit the A-button quickly, leaping over Hewdraw and landing behind it. The creature half-turned, holding low to the ground, but even that much was turning away too far from Lana. She gathered her courage and ran right up Hewdraw’s back, held the sword in both hands and stabbed it into the right’s head’s forehead.

Hewdraw thrashed wildly, with Lana still clinging to the sword’s handle. She was able to hold on, but she called out: “Kevin! Help!”

“You won’t best me!” snarled the center head.

Not about to give it the benefit of the doubt, Kevin looked down at the Power Pad. It was on low. He couldn’t risk using it, and he got the sense that the Zapper _was_ part of it. The center head was about to strike again, and Kevin had no more time to think. He fired into the head’s open maw.

The center head choked and drew back, coughing violently. The right head lost its energy to fight, and Lana tore the sword free and fell from the neck, rolling into the bridge railing. He could hear a thump and a groan.

“Lana! Are you okay?” he called out.

She coughed a few times, quickly getting up onto her elbows. “I-I’m okay!” she managed, but the center head was starting to recover as well.

The plan now was that he just needed to give Lana time again. But Kevin could barely see straight.

“The boy can hardly _stand_,” the remaining head scoffed. “Worn down, the both of you will make for an easy dinner!”

Kevin looked up, and needed only enough strength to think before deciding his course of action. “_Is_ it dinner time?”

Hewdraw paused. Frowned. “What?”

“I’m asking. _Is_ it actually dinner time? It can’t be much later than noon,” Kevin continued. “I mean, I know it’s been a long day, but the sun’s still pretty high in the sky right now. Shouldn’t we be lunch?”

Lana almost looked baffled until she figured out what Kevin was doing. Quietly, she pulled together her remaining reserves and got off the ground, carefully picking up the sword so to not let the blade scrape against the bridge.

“I suppose it is,” Hewdraw admitted. “Fine then! Easy lunch! The semantics aren’t the point. The _point_ is that I—”

Before it could finish its sentence, Lana had leapt and struck, slicing Hewdraw’s last head right down the middle. It was frozen in shock, mouth still moving to try and form its dying words, before it burst completely into smoke.

Then, _finally_, it was silent. Except that there was applause coming from behind the smoke. When it cleared, Kevin saw two figures in armour.

They were both Robot Masters, and Kevin remembered picking up _Mega Man 2_ just last year after Christmas. The one in red was Quick Man; sleek, cool, the one giving the bad guy adulation with a cocky grin spread across his face. The blue one was Flash Man; serious and cold, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. His arm was in buster mode.

Which explained how Hewdraw got past the others so easily. Flash Man’s Time Stop gave them no need for stealth, and Quick Man was the robot Flash. Even in the game, he moved so fast, he was easily one of the toughest Robot Masters in the series. (Though, the problem was more his _stage_ than the guy himself, but that was besides the point.)

Quick Man dropped his hands and sauntered towards them lazily. “To think, the boss went through all the trouble of bugging Medusa for her troops to exploit the dungeon paths. This really all we’re here for? Some big, empty castle and an old computer? I’m pretty sure he could build better. He _has_ built better.” Quick Man gestured to himself, none too subtly.

Flash Man rolled his eyes. “Our job here is _done_, Quick Man. We were told to confirm the viability of the paths, and we did. We shouldn’t still _be_ here.”

He was waved off. “Aw, let me have my fun, Flash. Little boy blue hardly let me get a word in when I fought him.”

Something occurred to Kevin from that. For the bosses that weren’t just big monsters, what were those battles _really_ like? More than they were on-screen, to be sure, but he had to wonder _how_ that was the case. For Quick Man in particular, he remembered his neighbour Julio pointing out that Quick Man’s portrait was the only one that stuck out of its frame on the stage select screen. Somehow, Quick Man in particular was special.

Quick Man came up to him first. Kevin noticed those bright, LED-screen eyes looking him up and down, and he almost felt like… he didn’t know what. He was tense, but something told him that Quick Man didn’t have any interest in hurting him. At least, not right now. _He’s just here to gloat._

Sure enough, after Quick Man gave Lana a similar (but less lingering, or maybe that was Kevin’s imagination) look-over, he said, “You know, I thought the Palace would be guarded by something a little more intimidating than a bunch of humans. The chick with the armour, yeah, she looked tough. Might give the barbarian a bit of cred’, too. But these two? The bird-boy? That other girl who let me pass? Come on. I thought little Rockie might’ve found better than this.”

_Let him pass?_ Kevin didn’t buy that. Again, Quick Man was, well, so-named for a reason. She probably just hadn’t seen him before he’d already gone by her.

“It doesn’t _matter_,” Flash Man hissed. “Remember how well underestimating _little Rockie_ went?”

“I suggest you listen to your friend there,” Lana said. “Leave, _now_, before I turn you to scrap.”

Quick Man dismissed her the way he’d dismissed the other Robot Master earlier. “Like you’d even be able to catch me, kid. I’m the fastest Robot Master alive.”

“Didn’t stop Mega Man from blowing you to bits,” Kevin snipped.

The point only made Quick Man grin and let out a laugh. “The kid only did it because he had Flash’s weapon!” He smacked his palm into Flash Man’s white-barrelled arm for emphasis. “I doubt either of you have anything like that.”

Kevin smiled himself. He was about to test the SELECT button, to see if it would have the same effect as the Time Stopper, when Lana grabbed his arm to stop him.

“We don’t want to get into a fight with these guys,” she hushed at him.

Oh, right. Fair point. They’d only _just_ finished off Hewdraw, and were in no state to try and fight two Robot Masters at once. He doubted that Simon’s sword, even in Lana’s hands, was going to be anywhere near as effective on Flash Man as the Metal Blades.

“Just so you know, you’ll never find us,” Quick Man continued. “You’ve got dozens of worlds to search and hardly any time. Mother Brain feels like the type to prep something _big_, and I don’t think you guys have the firepower to handle it.”

“Sounds like you’re giving her more credit than she deserves,” Kevin said. “Samus beat her single-handedly. Now she has a team.”

“Of nobodies.” Quick Man waved his hand. “You know what? I think I’m done. You guys aren’t giving me much material to work with.”

He yawned dramatically. Flash Man grabbed his arm and hissed, “Let’s _go._”

Quick Man grinned and gave them a mocking salute. “See ya.”

In a blur of red and blue, the both of them were gone. Relief as that was, Kevin wanted to be _sure_ of it, and reclaimed his own arm from Lana to chase after them.

* * *

Except, by the time Kevin got back to the main body of the Palace, Quick Man and Flash Man were gone without a trace. Instead, he managed to catch Miki at the top of the stairs, fiddling with her Zapper.

He swallowed and dared to ask: “Miki, did you see Quick Man and Flash Man go by?”

“No.”

Her response was too curt and too quick. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was lying.

Kevin dared to approach her, somewhat catching her attention. “Miki, is now really the time to be uncooperative? Just tell me honestly.”

“I _didn’t_,” she insisted. But, she thought for a moment, and gave him that smirk that he unfortunately recognized as being the one she liked to give before, say, shoving his face into a locker. “Okay, maybe I did. But just not now, ‘cause they just blew past. I only know they were there because Quick paused to say hi.”

He _really_ didn’t like the way she said that. “So he was telling the truth. You _let_ him pass through the dungeon…”

Kevin almost cursed his own optimism for a moment. Why did it only figure that the one time he trusted Miki to be a decent person, because it would mean the kind of trouble that was too far for someone like her, she made a point of being worse than he thought? It just didn’t make sense, she wasn’t like, a criminal! She was just a tough jock who liked to throw her weight around, and no part of that meant letting a bad guy into a valuable place like this!

“So maybe I did,” Miki admitted. “Because you know what? He made me realize something.”

Kevin’s stomach sank. He waited to hear what Miki had to say, and hoped that somehow, beyond all logic or reason, that it would be something totally understandable and not in the least bit selfish. Naturally, he ended up being wrong.

“Is this really _our_ problem, Keene?” Miki asked. “I mean, sure. I have no doubt that Mother Brain and her buddies are gonna do some bad stuff if they get a hand on the Palace. But, like, why is that _our_ business? Shouldn’t the _prophetic hero_ be here of their own will and not snatched out of the real world against their will? Someone who both _wanted_ to do it _and_ had the muscle to back it up?”

Something irked him about the way she said that. _The real world_, as though what happened here didn’t matter.

“You could have just asked Mainframe to send you back,” Kevin said, burning with anger.

“Probably.” Miki shrugged. “But who’s going to pass up a chance to hang out where _video games are real_? Not me. So you can keep hanging out with the good guys if you want, and pretend that you’re not just going to slow them down. Me, I’m going to have fun wherever I want, however I want.”

“But this is _way_ different from some game! This world is in danger!”

She didn’t waver. “See you around, Keene. Let me know how saving it goes.”

With that, she super-jumped onto a much lower floor, and continued downwards until she had reached the teleport pad. Within seconds, she was gone.

_Dangit_. But it was no wonder that he wasn’t going to be able to convince her out of ignoring the problem, and as he looked at the space where she used to be, he almost dared to think that there was no point in trying. Even if she’d never made that switch from being a good girl to being a bully, well… a month ago, she’d been given _very_ good reason not to want to live in the real world.

Not that a dead father justified disregarding the safety and well-being of other people. Kevin had _known_ Mr. Ishihara, and the man had been an incredibly kind, generous, polite person. He’d long lost insight on Miki’s home life, and he certainly had no idea what had been going on since Mr. Ishihara’s death, but how could she have been raised by a man like that and ended up so selfish?

Well, she could have her open sandbox to play in. Kevin would do what he always did and turn the other cheek, because he had better things to do than chase down someone who didn’t even care to look behind her when it was all said and done.

As he was still looking down, he saw the others emerge from one of the floors below him. Pit noticed him immediately out of all of them, and waved.

“Hey, Kevin!” called up the angel. “What happened? Where are Lana and the other girl?”

* * *

As he explained what happened, Kevin walked with the others back to Mainframe’s Tower. Pit was enthused with the fight between them and Hewdraw, and Mega Man looked rightfully worried about the appearances of Flash Man and Quick Man. Samus was not happy to hear what Miki had done, abandoning the mission for her own desires.

“Shame. I thought there was something more to that kid,” she said. “But it can’t be helped. If she’s not going to help, we’ll finish the job without her.”

Kevin didn’t know _why_ Samus might have seen anything in Miki, but he didn’t feel like asking right now. He guessed it maybe wasn’t far from why _he’d_ hoped better of her.

They returned to Mainframe’s Tower, where Lana had gone to check on Duke and the wider security of the Palace. The shields were still up and running, and there didn’t seem to be any more stragglers left in the perimeter. Lana paused on the dungeon that Miki had been assigned.

“At least we’ve finally chased off the last of them,” Pit offered. “I guess they needed a break.”

“I’ll go back out and seal up the last one.” Samus was already making her way out when she thought of something else, paused, and turned back. “Are there any other openings we should know about?”

Mainframe pulled the map of the Palace back up again, and showed that other than the dungeon Miki had abandoned before sealing, the Palace was covered. “No.”

“Good.” Samus gave a thumbs up and left.

“To that end, I suggest the rest of you get some well-deserved rest,” Mainframe continued. “It’s not been a short day. Have any of you even eaten yet?”

It seemed to occur to all of them at once that, from this morning onwards, they’d all been running on empty. As if to punctuate the point, Pit’s stomach gave a loud growl and the angel groaned.

“Where’s the food in this place?” he whined.

Lana smiled. “I’ll lead you guys downstairs. Thankfully, the fridge stocks itself.” She began to walk, and the others gladly went with her.

Kevin and Duke were the last ones left in the room, and he didn’t really feel inclined to follow everyone else just yet. Instead, once everyone else was out of earshot, he turned back towards Mainframe and approached it quietly. He didn’t look up at the screen at first, taking a deep breath in and looking for the words he wanted to say. “Um…”

“Is something wrong?” Mainframe asked.

Kevin nodded slowly. One more time, he remembered his mother’s image poised like a calmly waiting damsel in that prison cell back in the Dungeon of Trials. His mother, who in reality was back at home with no clue where her son might have gone. His mother, alone and confused, in a house she worked too hard to pay the bills for. School, his teachers, his friends, everyone else— Kevin could live with leaving them behind for something this important. But his mom was a whole other story. She only _had_ him and Duke. She was stressed enough as it was. Would she be okay?

But he couldn’t really unload all that, could he. He wasn’t even sure Mainframe would understand, and admittedly, the thought of actually figuring out how much the system really knew about his home life was scary to him. So he settled for a much simpler question.

“When this is all over…” Kevin said. He swallowed before continuing. “When the Palace is safe, will I be able to go home?”

As if even this much wasn’t terrifying. He’d give Miki’s rude behaviour this; their task was overwhelming, and life was hard enough back home. The chance to get away from both and treating the wide-open multiverse as an escape was really tempting, wasn’t it? It would be like being young forever, and never having to take on any responsibility they didn’t want to. Absolute freedom and total self-indulgence. No more fear.

Except Kevin would never be able to do it, because he didn’t have it in him to just block out everything else. Maybe Miki could ignore the dire situation at hand, and pretend there was nothing to go home to, but Kevin just… couldn’t. He wasn’t the hero, but he was darn well going to try.

The momentary wave of determination was bolstered by Mainframe’s answer. “Yes.”

Daunting as the quest was going to be, Kevin just reminded himself who else was on his team. What he’d already accomplished today. He looked down at the Power Pad and Zapper on his belt, and then his eye caught Duke looking up at him.

His loyal dog’s face felt like extra encouragement, from home. Without words, it was like he was being told, _Mom will be really proud of you_.

He guessed that Duke’s arrival with him in the Hubworld was a total accident on Mainframe’s part. He was still grateful for it.

“Kevin!” Lana called from the doorway. “Aren’t you coming?”

Kevin snapped out of his thoughts. “Yeah, just a second!”

He quickly thanked Mainframe, whistled for Duke to follow him and jogged to catch up with the others. Somewhere behind him, he could hear a response:

“Do your best, young hero.”


End file.
